If he will make a statement on the volunteers in education mentoring programme at the university of Warwick. [175987]

The Government-funded education mentoring programme in Warwick is helping young people to realise their potential and strengthening voluntary groups and neighbourhoods. The project will receive £55,999 per annum for the years 2004–05 and 2005–06. Last year, 200 students volunteered in over 40 schools. It is an important scheme that shows that we can develop this in many ways. I am grateful for the support that my hon. Friend has given it.

I cannot stress enough the importance of that scheme, particularly in inner cities and deprived areas. Does my right hon. Friend have plans to expand the scheme up and down the country?

We do. There is a range of such schemes, including an interesting one pioneered by Simon Singh, the author, to get maths students to spend part of their course acting as teaching assistants in maths classes in local schools. We are drawing up detailed proposals for a major expansion of precisely that type of work because we have seen the benefits to which my hon. Friend referred.

What research his Department has commissioned on the use of school sports facilities by the community outside school hours. [175988]

The evaluation of the first extended schools pathfinder projects, which includes an evaluation of the use of school sports facilities, was published earlier this year and is available in the House of Commons Library. It shows that many schools make their sports facilities available to the community. We are also evaluating the next phase of our programme to develop extended schools across the country and the use of school sports facilities will be part of that evaluation.

I welcome the extended schools project, but is it enough? There are two things we all know from our constituencies. First, young people are crying out for more facilities and, secondly, we are rebuilding all the playing fields and sports facilities that were sold off by the previous Government. Can we ensure that those facilities are used in the evenings and weekends? In the light of the report on obesity by the Select Committee on Health, do not we need to require all schools to provide those facilities in the evenings and weekends, in co-operation with sports organisations, local councils and the youth service?

It is extremely important that we develop school sports facilities not just for young people, so that they have somewhere to go and something to do, but for wider use by the community. I agree with my hon. Friend that our measures to preserve school playing fields for their proper use have helped to encourage that, but I am less sure that we should make it compulsory for schools to extend that use. I believe that our extended sports programme will capture the imagination of head teachers and governing bodies and that they will choose of their own volition to extend their facilities to the wider community.

School sports facilities represent a huge resource and investment and, if we are honest, they have never been fully utilised by the community. Will the Minister encourage school principals and governors, perhaps for the first time, to promote the use of those facilities and make it more widely known that they are available, because in the past school principals and governors reacted only to requests to use such facilities?

I agree. I hope that the hon. Gentleman supports our programme of over £1 billion of investment, with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to improve and extend school sports facilities. It is important that they should be available not just to the young people who attend the school but to the wider community, which will benefit from that. Parents and grandparents will benefit from participating in the activities of the school that their children and grandchildren attend.

My right hon. Friend will be aware of the significant investment in sporting facilities in many schools in Rochdale. However, one problem should be looked at: the issue of revenue and ensuring that capital is used effectively. Sometimes, the community that is most local to the new facilities is excluded because of the pricing policy. Can some work be done to look at revenue to ensure that capital is used to best effect in many of the communities that are most in need?

As part of our programme of investment for the years to 2008, we are examining how to bring together all the sources of funding to make better use of facilities in schools as part of the extended schools programme. Part of that will involve looking at Government, local government, the role of the voluntary sector and individual contributions to see how those resources can be brought to bear to enhance and sustain those important facilities, which contribute so much to the well-being of the community.

Does the Minister accept that a major threat to the use of school sports facilities by the wider community is the problem in finding volunteers to teach the sports? Has she read the reports in theDaily Mail this week that highlight the consequences of the compensation culture, which is forcing the cancellation of sports lessons because people are no longer prepared to volunteer as instructors because of the huge growth in the threat of litigation? Does she understand that all the fine words about encouraging sports in schools to promote good health and tackle obesity are worthless if she allows the development of a culture that drives away the dedicated people who give freely of their time to teach those sports?

I agree that volunteers have an important contribution to make not only in the use of sports facilities in schools but in the wider enhancement of potential and opportunity for the children in those schools. However, we as a Government have been extremely successful in encouraging the involvement of volunteers right the way through the lives of children and young people, not least in the millennium volunteers programme, which we launched and which now involves hundreds of thousands of young people in the extension of volunteering. We also have a volunteer programme for sports facilities that links schools to local sports clubs across the whole range of sports. Those clubs are bringing their expertise back into school life through particular sports facilities. We want to carry on encouraging that. This is not a life of dependency, but a life of opportunity.

If he will make a statement on provision for review of the independent schools adjudicator's decisions on schools selection policy. [175989]

Schools adjudicators are independent of the Secretary of State and their decisions can be challenged only through the courts.

My hon. Friend will be aware that, in Hertfordshire during the past year, we have had several challenges on selection policy and the adjudicator's decisions have also been challenged, causing considerable delay and stress to parents, schools and pupils. Will my hon. Friend consider how he could assist the adjudicator to come to more robust decisions? To create some stability, will he consider the possibility that the adjudicator's decisions must hold for a certain amount of time, perhaps two or three years, before they can be challenged again?

My hon. Friend raises an important point. In 32 cases, the adjudicators have reduced the amount of selection being carried out by schools. Any school that is thinking of reversing the adjudicator's decision—I think that my hon. Friend is referring to such a case in Hertfordshire—should think carefully about potential future challenges, the implications of previous adjudicator decisions and the uncertainty that such a reversal might cause to parents and pupils.

If he will make a statement on the funding of secondary schools in Cheshire. [175992]

On the latest available figures, funding for secondary pupils in Cheshire increased by £630 per pupil in real terms between 1997–98 and 2003–04.

Is the Minister aware of the financial problems that smaller comprehensive schools that lack a sixth form and do not have access to social deprivation funding face because of the recurrent budget cuts in Cheshire? They are schools, I hasten to add, that have addressed staff overspend and now have a good balance and that have provided clear evidence of strict financial planning.

I am aware of that and aware that the hon. Lady wrote to my hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards about Middlewich high school. Officials in the Department are considering her letter, including the enclosure from the head teacher of that school, and liaising closely with officials in the local education authority in Cheshire. We will get back to the hon. Lady with a full response shortly.

My hon. Friend will know the tremendous progress that has been made in school developments in my constituency and the Secretary of State recently visited one of our superb new primary schools. However, we have a problem with the development of specialist schools. A particular school is finding it very difficult to get anywhere near the £50,000 target that it needs to raise. Will my hon. Friend look closely at the needs of Sutton high school and help me to work with it to find solutions to that problem?

I am happy to give my hon. Friend that undertaking. At earlier stages in the specialist schools programme, a number of schools around the country pointed out the difficulties that they had with the £50,000 requirement. Although we believe that most schools should be able to fulfil that requirement, we have established the partnership fund, which might be a source of support for my hon. Friend's school. I shall be happy to keep in touch with him as that matter progresses.

Does the Minister agree that the funding mechanism restricts choice in places such as Cheshire? Each year, I receive many letters from parents who are bitterly disappointed because they cannot get their children—often along with other members of their primary school class—into popular local secondary schools. Does he agree that, given that those secondary schools often want to accept such children, we should let the money follow the pupil and allow the good secondary schools to expand?

Of course, that is exactly what we do; indeed, we have provided the opportunity for the most successful schools to expand where such potential exists. But Labour Members want to ensure that every neighbourhood in every part of the country has the highest quality schools, so that that option is available for the many, not just for the few.

:What representations he has received concerning Derbyshire county council's building schools for the future bid. [175993]

We have received two representations relating to the use of private finance initiative credits, and to the announcement of the next waves of investment. In addition, an official from the Department has met representatives of Derbyshire county council.

The Government have a good story to tell in support of secondary education in South Derbyshire, particularly for schools such as John Port, to which £5 million was recently allocated for new and replacement buildings. However Derbyshire's building schools for the future programme focuses on the county's former coalfield communities, and in my area on schools in the Swadlincote community—William Allitt, Pingle and Granville—which are working closely with the local education authority on an exciting element of that bid. Will my hon. Friend bear that bid very strongly in mind in the next round?

I am sure that my hon. Friend will want me to rehearse the rise in capital funding in Derbyshire since 1997—from £4 million to £40 million in this financial year. I certainly take very seriously his point about the need in coalfield communities for the sort of investment that he recommends, but, of course, Labour Members are committed to such investment throughout the country, starting in the areas of greatest need.

In wave 1 of this programme, of the 12 authorities that were successful only one was a shire council. Why?

In fact, there are 14 authorities in wave 1, including two reserves.[Interruption] Actually, 14 plus two reserves makes 16. The numeracy hour beckons for a certain Conservative Front Bencher. Perhaps he is auditioning for the role of shadow Secretary of State; I notice that the current one is not here today.

Can the Minister explain why Derbyshire did not get in on the first round and may I add my support to my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Mr. Todd) to ensure that Derbyshire is included in the next round? Every single pit in the county is closed, many of the schools are ancient and Shirebrook in particular—as well as Swadlincote—should be high on the list. I hope that the Minister will provide the right answer.

This is obviously an important issue so far as Shirebrook and Swadlincote are concerned and I hope that we will be able to cover all the issues. We had 52 applications for the first wave of the building schools for the future programme, in 2005–06, and we prioritised on the basis of need and of the impact on educational standards. We were able to help only 14, with two reserves, but I shall certainly bear in mind my hon. Friend's comments about Derbyshire's needs.

Is my hon. Friend aware that, under the previous Government, Derbyshire county council received abysmal funding? This Government have more or less corrected that through the capital investment to which he has referred, but the past is still chained around our necks. On the programme of phased provision, it is important that we get such investment this year, particularly given that we missed it last year. It is especially necessary in areas of deprivation and the first five schools that would be provided for are in North-Eastern Derbyshire.

I know that Derbyshire has submitted three projects to be considered across the life of the programme. I am glad to hear that Shirebrook is one of them. I hope for my hon. Friend's sake that it is in the top priority group that has been submitted by the LEA, not in the other two. I appreciate what he says about the difference that has been made. We want to make sure that there are modern learning facilities for all pupils, because that is vital for their education.

If he will make it his Department's policy to require children from areas of traditionally low educational attainment to start school in the year in which they are five, rather than the term in which they are five; and if he will make a statement. [175994]

There are no plans to change the age when compulsory school starts. However, from April this year every three and four-year-old became entitled to free early education either in a school or in a private or voluntary preschool setting.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Does she accept that, in areas of chronic educational under-attainment, it is important that there is a £3,000 grant for youngsters? It is important that we have on-site provision of further education in schools. However, the most important thing—certainly in my constituency it is essential—is that money is spent at the earliest opportunity. A pound spent on five-year-olds is worth £20 spent on those over 16. Will my hon. Friend look at the work of the city of Nottingham and consider writing to me about the possibility of all five-year-olds being at school for a full year rather than starting in the term in which they are five?

I agree with my hon. Friend. All the research evidence further confirms his view that the early years of a child's life are crucial and determine children's outcomes as they grow up. I am sure that he agrees that a good early-years programme goes beyond early education and encompasses family support and community health services. I will write to him about his suggestion for his constituency. I am happy to discuss with him how we can raise attainment among young people in his constituency.

I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen). There is extensive research to show that, for boys born in the summer who start school at an early age, an early start affects their educational attainment and life opportunities, so it is an issue worthy of consideration. Of course, the Sure Start programme helps in the areas that have been referred to. We have 500; we need 500 more. I hope that they will be a priority for spending in the comprehensive spending review. Ministers should keep their minds open to creating flexibility and paths for individuals rather than making individuals fit into the system.

My hon. Friend is right to bring our attention to the research on outcomes for summer-born children. The fact that we have extended the opportunity for early education to all three and four-year-olds will mitigate the phenomenon to some extent. We should begin to understand how that affects children's opportunities before we consider changing the compulsory school starting age. We keep these matters constantly under review. Everything that happens in the early years of a child's life from birth to five, including what we do to support parents, is crucial to the outcome when that child grows up.

What effects the Government's strategy for special educational needs will have on children with special needs. [175995]

The strategy that we published early this year will significantly help to improve the quality of education of children with special needs. The strategy contains a programme of practical measures to promote early identification of children's special educational needs, boost early intervention on the basis of that identification, improve co-ordination of services to children and their families, improve staff training and build strong collaboration between mainstream and special schools to share knowledge and expertise. They will help to provide the opportunities and support for children with special educational needs to realise their full potential.

Last Friday, as part of autism awareness week, I met parents in west Cumbria whose children suffer from autism. Will my right hon. Friend tell us what the Government are doing to deal with those children's special needs?

Yes, I certainly can. One of the strengths of our strategy is that we focus on each special educational need's characteristics and then build a partnership between the voluntary organisations concerned, the education service and the health service to address that special need. I appreciate the work done in national autism week to highlight these issues, and as part of early support pilot programme, we will shortly provide guidance for the parents of nought to three-year-olds who are diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. I hope that that will help to build the early identification and intervention that is so necessary and such a central part of our programme.

A year ago, Ofsted delivered the most damning indictment of special educational needs provision in mainstream schools. A year later, we have had a strategy document, but absolutely nothing else. Statistics released today show that, last year, 6,000 students with SEN were permanently excluded from their schools. Students are nine times more likely to be excluded if they have a special educational need than if they have not. Over the past year, how many additional teachers have been trained and recruited to meet Ofsted's requirement? How many schools have had whole-staff training to meet the needs of the inclusion programme? What is the Secretary of State doing specifically to deal with the abhorrent permanent exclusion of children with SEN conditions from our schools?

I simply do not accept the catalogue that the hon. Gentleman describes, but he is right to suggest that the situation is serious in many parts of the country, as Ofsted identified. I agree that major issues need to be addressed, but we are implementing our strategy and the resources involved are substantial. For example, in 2003–04, funding for special educational needs was almost £3.5 billion—13 per cent. of the overall schools budget—of which about £1.5 billion was spent on SEN in special schools and £1.7 billion on special provision in mainstream education and so on. There is a major commitment. We are working with the associations and local government to deliver in this respect. He is right to raise his concerns and to press them, as all hon. Members would wish to work with him, but he is wrong to say that we are not taking action. In fact, we are taking very strong action indeed.

Did the Secretary of State see the moving article written by our colleague, my hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron), in last Saturday'sTelegraph, in which he underlined how crucial it is that certain children should never be put into mainstream schools? If he did not read that article, will he please do so? When he has done so, will he write to me?

As it happens, I did read that article and I am happy to write to the hon. Gentleman, but the problem with the debate about inclusion is that there are dogmatists on all sides. Some people say that there must never be inclusion, others that there must always be inclusion. What is necessary is to create a system with the capacity that we have built up to enable the right choices to be made for each child's individual circumstances. It is difficult to get to that point because there are significant resource implications in the education of children with special educational needs. I certainly do not hide, as I did not from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Mr. Willis) a few moments ago, the fact that we still have a great deal of work to do in some areas, but the core principle must be that we have a system to do what is right for individual children. I will write to the hon. Gentleman on the particular point.

Has the Secretary of State read the report produced yesterday by the Down's Syndrome Association, in which parents express the concerns that many involved in special educational needs have expressed? One parent said:

"Our local authority is bent on achieving inclusion and the reduction of special schools."

"The important factor is choice … a mainstream only route is a dangerous one size fits all approach."

Unfortunately, I have not read that article. About the same number of children are being educated in special schools now as they were 10 years ago. I agree with the hon. Gentleman, however. I have met groups of parents who feared the closure of a school in their local authority and I know that they felt unengaged and thought the decision was wrong for their children. That is why I gave the answer that I did to the hon. Member for South Staffordshire (Sir Patrick Cormack). This must not be a dogmatic process. There has to be proper consultation with the community, in particular with the parents and carers of those children. The needs of the individual child have to come first.

What action his Department takes to enforce its minimum nutritional standards for school meals. [175996]

Local education authorities have a duty to provide school meals that meet statutory nutritional standards. Where a school has a delegated budget for meals, this duty becomes the responsibility of the governing body.

Is my hon. Friend aware of my ten-minute Bill next month on food in schools? Does he agree that today's report by the Health Committee gives much added significance to the subject? Does he accept, on behalf of his Department, the central theme of that Bill—that every school should have a food policy, dealing with school meals and the contents of the children's lunch boxes and the vending machines—and that Ofsted should enforce those policies by inspecting and disseminating good practice, so that we embed good attitudes towards food throughout society?

Goodbye Mr. Chips.

I welcome my hon. Friend's ten-minute Bill, which I was aware of. We are in discussions with Ofsted on the role that it can play, both with regard to the nutritional value of food in schools and, more generally, in addressing the need for healthy schools. I accept that today's report makes an important contribution to cross-Government work in tackling that significant problem.

Prohibiting chips in schools will encourage youngsters to go out and get them from other sources. Today's newspapers say that some schools are being forced to provide meals for 35p a head. That encourages the chip culture rather than moving us away from it. Should we not ensure that the resources are right for the provision of school meals so that youngsters have a choice? We also need to educate youngsters so that they value what they eat. Clearly, the implication is not simply that we are becoming a nation of Mr. Blobbies, but that later in life those children could get diseases, such as diabetes, which is on the increase, unless they eat properly.

I agree, although the expression "Goodbye Mr. Chips" came from a Conservative Back Bencher rather than anyone on the Labour Benches.

Does my hon. Friend remember that, three years ago, the Education Committee published a report—the first under my chairmanship—on school meals? Ministers, like my hon. Friend, made nice-sounding statements in the Question Time that followed the report's publication, but very little was done. Is the excellent report by the Health Committee a wake-up call? The relationship between education and health is vital. It is not just about what kids eat at lunchtime but about where education sits in terms of teaching kids about the relationship between what they eat, how they exercise—hopefully, by walking to school—and their future prosperity.

Absolutely. I assure my hon. Friend that I never forget any of his Committee's reports, and I am sure that none of my colleagues in the ministerial team would do so, even those that were published before we joined the Department.

Does the Minister agree that providing healthy, nutritional food options is only part of the pattern, and that schoolchildren at the moment are receiving many mixed signals? Will he review the extent to which some of the companies responsible for the least healthy food options are able to sponsor school activities and put in place vending machines that encourage children to go for the worst food options, not the best?

That is one issue that we are considering as part of the "food in schools" work with the Department of Health. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we do not want sponsorship that encourages unhealthy activity, but we want to take a sensible approach to sponsorship; for example, we want to encourage the provision of drinking water in schools, and the water companies are among the sponsors of many of those initiatives. We seek to get the balance right.

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is critical that nutritious meals reach the poorest children, and that it continues to be a terrible pity that about 200,000 children entitled to free school meals do not claim them? According to research by the Child Poverty Action Group that is, as ever, due to the fear of stigma. Does he have any new plans to deal with that old and seemingly intractable problem?

I am aware of that problem and I have been in discussion with CPAG about the work needed to ensure that free schools meals are taken up. I cannot set out a specific plan of action today, but I assure my hon and learned Friend that, in considering her point, I will look at whether further work can be done on this specific issue as part of the broader work on healthy eating that I mentioned before.

What assessment he has made of the additional teacher training requirements which would result from the implementation of the Tomlinson report. [175998]

The final report of the working group on 14 to 19 reform, expected in the autumn, will set out recommendations for the curriculum and qualifications for that phase of learning. The report will set out carefully phased implementation arrangements. When the Department considers the final report it will work closely with the Teacher Training Agency and other bodies on the implications of the proposals for teacher training.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that all the indications are that there will be many more practical options in schools when Tomlinson is implemented, so many of our young people will be learning basic subjects such as maths and science through practical rather than theoretical work? That will necessitate major changes in the way we train our teachers, because they are not currently trained in that way. Will my right hon. Friend undertake to give serious consideration not only to future teacher training but to the in-service training that will be required, so that we can make sure that the proposals are properly implemented?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I can assure her that the issue is a priority. A departmental group has been set up to look specifically at issues arising from the implementation of the working group's proposals and the need for more practical training. This is not new: although work arising from the Tomlinson report is at a very early stage, a great deal of work is being done now in workplaces and further education colleges to ensure that teachers are properly trained.

If the Government are to progress the integrated 14 to 19 agenda, will that primarily be done by adding sixth forms to schools that do not have them, or by strengthening the age range of post-16 colleges; if the latter, what steps are the Government taking to remove the discrimination against post-16 colleges in determining staff salaries and funding?

We need to look at both options. Central Government have not set out in tablets of stone whether sixth forms in schools, sixth form colleges or, indeed, sixth form centres in FE colleges are the best route forward. In the strategic area reviews currently under way in all 47 learning and skills council areas we are asking providers to put the learner at the centre and decide on post-16 provision accordingly. Funding has been an issue for some time, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that the latest pay deal agreed for FE colleges will, by the end of its two-year duration, narrow that gap considerably, although it will not close it.

Further to the excellent supplementary question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington, North (Helen Jones) about the centrality of science and maths in the Tomlinson review, can my right hon. Friend give me an assurance that the Smith report on mathematics teaching is being implemented post-haste to address the concerns rightly expressed by my hon. Friend?

I am advised by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State that the Smith report on mathematics is being looked at energetically—[Laughter.] You can look at something energetically, Mr. Speaker, whether or not you do anything about it. The Smith report, however, makes an important contribution to the debate, and we will publish our response in the near future.

What his latest estimate is of the number of support staff working in schools; and if he will make a statement. [175999]

In January 2004, there were 241,700 full-time equivalent support staff employed in maintained schools in England—an increase of over 100,000 since 1997. Further information is available in the House of Commons Library. In addition, teacher numbers rose by 4,000 over the past year, and there has been an increase of 28,000 since 1997. That is obviously excellent news for schools and school standards.

The Save British Science Society has found that practical classes in science are often cancelled for a variety of reasons, including poor pupil behaviour. Will my hon. Friend look at the supply of laboratory technicians? They are not well paid, and there are few training courses available for them, yet they are essential to the setting-up and efficient and safe running of practical classes in science.

I completely agree. When I appeared before the Science and Technology Committee a year or so ago, we spoke about this issue, and I explained that work force reform and the inclusion of a range of adults with expertise from the community could play a major role in schools. I certainly envisage a continuing increase in school support staff, including those vital laboratory technicians to whom my hon. Friend referred.

Will the Minister explain to the House what plans he has to raise the status and acceptance of support staff, who are important to the proper running of our schools? They play an increasingly important role, and should be seen for what they are—an essential part of education, not an add-on extra.

The right hon. Gentleman makes an important point. I hope that he agrees that it is less a matter of acceptance—there is widespread acceptance of the important role that laboratory technicians can play—than of status, which is important. The work force reform agreement, which establishes clear teaching support roles for support staff, will provide them with the status that is demanded. Allied to that is a career structure for laboratory technicians that has not previously existed and a training system to support them. All those things will help to turn the acceptance that he and I think is important into the status that we also agree is vital. The first question today, which was answered by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, about the role of volunteer graduate students and others in the classroom, demonstrated an important adjunct to the role of laboratory technicians, drawn from universities and elsewhere.

What assessment he has made of the merits of a gap year to young people's education. [176000]

The Department for Education and Skills has commissioned a review of gap years, and the results of that research are due to be published at the end of July.

I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. I am sure that he is aware that the Government are considering whether to support young people from low-income families to ensure that they, too, have the opportunity to take a gap year. Will he ensure that the Department's report feeds into that, and that admissions tutors in further and higher education and people who employ young people in their gap year are made aware of the value of a gap year for young people?

I can give my hon. Friend an assurance that the results of the research that we have commissioned and of the young volunteer challenge pilot which she mentioned and which operates in nine educational maintenance allowance areas, will be co-ordinated and, indeed, fed into the work of the Russell commission, which was announced by the Chancellor and the Home Secretary on 17 May, giving us a comprehensive look at a range of issues. We already recognise the value of gap years, but we need to know more about what students do in their gap year, what they get out of it, and other matters that have been under-researched in the past.

Given that asking round the first year sixth-form students in my constituency this year has shown that many of them have been significantly put off the chance of going on a gap year because of the coming change in top-up fees, what investigations have the Government made to see what effect top-up fees will have on those who are deciding whether or not to take a gap year?

I am not surprised that some sixth-formers have been frightened to death by some of the figures floating around—

They are realistic.

They are not realistic at all. The suggestion the other day that students will end up with debts of £40,000 is incredible and wholly unhelpful. In reality the gap year issue is different now from in 1998–99, when fees were introduced. Then students who were applying for university did not know that there would be a fee to pay; now there is three years' notice. Given that the current situation is payment up front—not on graduation—no maintenance grant, no 25-year debt forgiveness and a smaller loan, it is questionable whether students would decide to take a gap year, especially as in 2006 they will get the benefit of all those proposals. We do not intend to legislate in respect of the situation. Universities have the power to deal with any problems that they foresee.

This is yet another example of the Government saying one thing and doing another. Clearly the Minister has not talked to sixth-formers recently. If he does a straw poll of them, he will find that many of those leaving in 2005 are saying that they will not take a gap year to avoid top-up fees. Does the Minister accept that that will cause chaos in the universities admissions system in 2005 and represents a genuine injustice to many young people who for financial reasons will not take a gap year and will lose out on the kind of opportunity about which the Chancellor has been waxing lyrical this week?

I talk to sixth-formers all the time. These proposals are still subject to parliamentary approval; the Bill is still going through the House. If, in the expectation of the happy day coming, the Bill receives Royal Assent, we can do an effective job of explaining the deal to students and their parents, many of whom believe that they will pay £3,000 up front, there is no maintenance grant and there is not an increase in the threshold for repayment. I have not come across a single student whose decision to go to university has been affected. I agree that there is an issue about whether to take a gap year, but once the situation is fully explained, there will not be a gap year problem. Certainly if it is foreseen, universities, who will have the opportunity under variable fees to set a lower fee to avoid a gap year problem, have that solution in their own hands, rather than us legislating, as the hon. Gentleman proposes, to remove that money from the universities and prevent them from having that choice. We have taken a balanced approach to a currently perceived problem.

Is not the missing ingredient in this debate the role of the parents? Is it not unquestionably in the interests of the majority of parents to encourage their young people to take a gap year, thereby making themselves £1,175 a year better off? Once parents start to understand that by deferring entry to 2006 they will have an enormous tax cut, attitudes to gap years will change.

I am told that youngsters today do not listen to their parents. Many of us will hope that they do on this occasion. There is an awful lot in what my hon. Friend says, not just in respect of parental responsibility, but in respect of students recognising that if they enrol in 2006 they will get a bigger loan, a deferred fee, a £2,700 non-repayable grant, a bursary of up to £4,000 from the university and 25-year debt forgiveness as well as all the other proposals that we will have already introduced, such as a higher threshold. It is questionable whether there will be a gap year problem. We cannot be absolutely confident that there will not be one, but once we have got the message across in the next three years there will be a change of perception. I hope very much that we can deal with this issue.

If he will make a statement on the funding of nursery education. [176001]

In 1997 access to free nursery education was effectively a postcode lottery. Since then we have invested more than £11 billion as part of an unprecedented expansion of early years provision. From 1 April 2004, six months ahead of the original target, we amended the regulatory framework to require all local authorities to ensure that there is sufficient provision to deliver a free part-time nursery education place for all three and four-year-olds whose parents want one.

May I suggest that the Minister visit Croydon. where that is not the case? Is she aware of the shambles it the funding of nursery education in Croydon, where the Labour-controlled council has embarked upon a discriminatory and illegal policy to deal with it? Is she aware that owing to a lack of funding, the council is not fulfilling the pledge that she set out? The council is choosing schools that are in Labour-controlled wards to receive nursery education funding, and ignoring the rest of the borough. Does she agree that that is abuse of power and contrary to the advice of officers, and will she use her statutory powers to intervene in what is nothing more than political corruption?

As the hon. Gentleman knows, I am aware of the situation in Croydon because he has written to me about it two or three times and I have responded. As he also knows from the correspondence in which he and I have been engaged, we are working closely with that authority to find a solution. It may be worth pointing out to the House that there are two authorities out of the 150 local education authorities that are having some difficulty in implementing their statutory requirements. One is Croydon; the other is Tory-controlled Richmond.

What plans she has to assist small businesses to combat fraudulent schemes targeted at small and medium-sized businesses. [176007]

There is a wide range of initiatives under way across Government to help small business combat fraud. Those include helping small businesses protect themselves against fraud and ensuring better investigation and prosecution of fraud.

I am grateful to the Solicitor-General for those remarks and for the effort she is putting into the dealing with the problem, but is she aware that many of the scams are becoming ever more brazen and complicated? One was reported to me the other day that was targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises and involved an organisation in Holland that purported to be an official lottery. It informed the recipient that they had won a large amount of money, asked for their bank details and asked them to send a handling fee. Some small firms have already been conned by that, believe it or not. Can the Solicitor-General tell the House what further steps she will take to try and sort out the problem?

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point and brings to the attention of the House the fact that huge amounts of money are involved in frauds perpetrated against small businesses. Often that has an international dimension and is highly organised and complex. He may be aware that the Federation of Small Businesses now has a column in its newsletter called "Scamwatch". Perhaps that ought to include the fraud that the hon. Gentleman described.

Does my right hon. and learned Friend accept that many small businesses have difficulty with the current legislation on money laundering? Does she agree that we should provide more guidance, so that people do not fall into traps that they are not expecting?

We are always happy to give guidance to small business, and we keep in close contact with the chambers of commerce as well as the Federation of Small Businesses. For the most part, they ask for more police resources to investigate fraud and closer working with prosecutors, but if there is a particular issue with small businesses having difficulty with the important new money-laundering regulations, we will do everything we can to help. Those regulations and the changes in the law are very important to tackle a growing problem.

There certainly is a growing problem, not only with "phishing" for bank details, but with the west African scam, which has been mentioned, and with what I consider to be the worst of all: firms purporting to be Government Departments or agencies asking for registration fees from companies for functions that are, in fact, free of charge.

Just as Ministers must work with colleagues in other Departments, so the Crown Prosecution Service must work closely with the police—on fraud, it works particularly closely with City of London police. It is also important for local police forces and local trading standards departments to work together. The line between what is a criminal offence and what is taking advantage is often blurred, and we must keep an eye on that point. I shall take up the hon. Gentleman's suggestion and examine liaison between trading standards departments and local police on that issue.

What steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to secure the conviction of human traffickers. [176008]

The CPS works closely with the police, immigration authorities and victims' organisations to ensure that human traffickers are caught, convicted and receive the appropriate sentence.

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for that answer. Does she agree that public ill will towards those who enter our country illegally should be properly directed towards organised criminal gangs that smuggle people into the country illegally? Does she think that prosecutors could contribute to focusing public disapproval—nay, loathing—on the right people by securing convictions and the severest sentences for ruthless people smugglers?

I agree with the points raised by my hon. Friend. When the Court of Appeal heard the case of a man called Plakici, who had received an unduly lenient sentence, it said that people trafficking is modern-day slavery. People are tricked, taken across the world and forced into terrible circumstances, which often include prostitution, kidnap, rape and many kinds of assault. The problem is growing, and we must address it internationally. We cannot sort it out alone, and we must work bilaterally with the countries of origin, some of which are in Africa, eastern Europe and south-east Asia, and with our European partners, because victims are often brought into another European country before they are brought into the United Kingdom.

The Solicitor-General knows that in many cases human trafficking is for the purpose of prostitution, which is a point that we sought specifically to address in sections 57, 58 and 59 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Will she tell the House about progress on prosecutions under that legislation? Perhaps she will also amplify her remarks on international co-operation: are we succeeding in extraditing to this country for trial those who facilitate trafficking, because in many cases the traffickers are not based here?

On international co-operation, the offences often occur in a number of different countries, and victims and evidence are often located in several different countries. That often raises the question of the most appropriate jurisdiction under which to try the crime, and extradition is not a major issue. The hon. Gentleman is right that the 2003 Act adds more offences to tackle that growing menace. The 2003 Act came into effect on 1 May, and I do not know whether any prosecutions have occurred under it yet, but an interministerial group will monitor the situation. The hon. Gentleman, like me, was in the Committee that considered the 2003 Act, and none of us wants good legislation that is not enforced.

To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the rate of successful prosecution for burglary in north Yorkshire. [176009]

The conviction rate for all cases in North Yorkshire magistrates court is 98 per cent., and for all cases in the Crown Court the figure is 90 per cent. We do not have separate figures for conviction rates for burglaries in north Yorkshire.

I have the separate figures, which show that less than 5 per cent. of burglary cases lead to successful prosecutions. In 2002–03, more than 11,000 burglaries were recorded, but fewer than 700 offenders were brought to justice, which is defined as a successful prosecution. The figure is very low, and I wonder what is going wrong and what damage is being caused to the morale of North Yorkshire police, which brings cases to trial, where the offenders are not successfully prosecuted.

In north Yorkshire, the police, prosecutors, courts and other agencies are working together to try to reduce the gap between the number of offences committed and the number of offenders brought to justice. That is happening locally as well as throughout north Yorkshire in general. As the hon. Lady will be aware, there has been a fall in the number of burglaries. The latest information shows that the number of domestic burglaries in north Yorkshire has fallen and that there has been an increase in the number of arrests. It is preferable that burglaries should be deterred, but if they happen, we must ensure that they are detected—that is a major issue—and that people are effectively prosecuted when brought to court. The police and the CPS are working together on that and making some progress.

What criteria she uses to select counsel to represent the Government in court. [176011]

The selection criteria for counsel to represent the Government include experience in advocacy and advice, quality of written work, academic strength and references.

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for that answer, but is there any kind of performance monitoring of Treasury counsel—not only for those who represent the Government in court, but for those who represent them in inquiries? For example, was Jonathan Sumption, who represented the Government during the Hutton inquiry, told whether he did a good or bad job? What kind of feedback did he get?

I cannot comment on that specific case, but continuous monitoring and feedback happens for important cases. The panel is reviewed, so that people do not stay on it for life. People's performance is reviewed to determine whether they will stay on the panel of counsel to be instructed by the Government.